McCain's little promenade in Baghdad just might be the same thing as "walking the plank" for him and his presidential ambitions. We don't need another president who is out of touch with reality. I hope this is becoming more and more apparent to the voters. This latest stunt is a prime example of McCain's disdain for the American people and especially for our troops.

Merchants at a Baghdad market have objected to Sen. John McCain’s assertion that his recent visit was evidence of the surge working. Unlike the typical Iraqi shopper, the Republican congressional delegation that visited the Shorja market on Sunday was protected by 100 U.S. soldiers, attack helicopters, body armor and, just to be safe, a contingent of snipers.[size=12][/size]

McCain's Propaganda Promenade!

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

A NEWBORN baby was one of at least 14 children and adults killed today when a suicide bomber detonated a truck laden with explosives close to a primary school in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital.

The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.

I wonder how much McCain's little stroll attracted this attack, just to show the US that McCain's opinion is not only premature, but waaaaay off base. McCain issued his own "Bring'um On" challenge to those who are violently against the American-British-"coalition" occupation of Iraq in coming to Baghdad, running his mouth, and taking his little silly stroll. The people in that truck, and that little newborn baby, paid the ultimate price for McCain's photo op...I hope he's happy.

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

“I would rather fight them over there than fight them over here.” “If we leave Iraq unfinished they will follow us home.” This latter jewel has been repeatedly spouted by Senator McCain, who aspires to the highest office in the land. Work that out for me, Senator McCain. If they could come here then, why can’t they come here now? In fact, it might even be easier since we are distracted with the War.

That's a very good and necessary challenge to be given to all of the presidential contenders who are still supporting Bush and the war. In fact, King Fisher posted a message about how the state of Kansas's governor didn't have enough National Guard troops to call out to help the citizens of that state during the recent floods. They were all in Iraq! It's probably true of every state in the union!

Now, we also have that gaunt skeleton head of Homeland Security Chertoff warning of summer terror threats! I think it's amazing and hilariously funny that the terror threat level goes up in direct relation to Bush's approval ratings going down.

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Nearly 90 percent of U.S. journalists in Iraq say much of Baghdad is still too dangerous to visit, despite a recent drop in violence attributed to the build-up of U.S. forces, a poll released on Wednesday said.

The survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center showed that many U.S. journalists believe coverage has painted too rosy a picture of the conflict....

...A majority of journalists surveyed say most of the country is too dangerous to visit. Nine out of ten say that about at least half of Baghdad itself. Wherever they go, traveling with armed guards and chase vehicles is the norm for more than seven out of ten surveyed.

Even the basics of getting the story are remarkably difficult. Outside of the heavily-fortified Green Zone, most U.S. journalists must rely on local staff to do the necessary face-to-face reporting. Yet nearly nine out of ten journalists say their local staff cannot carry any equipment -- not even a notebook -- that might identify them as working for the western media for fear of being killed. Some local staffers do not even tell their own families. ...

To show that Iraq was safe enough for the two million Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan to return, the Iraqi government organised a bus convoy last November from Damascus to Baghdad carrying 800 Iraqis home for free.

As a propaganda exercise designed to show that the Iraqi government was restoring peace, it never quite worked. The majority of the returnees said they were returning to Baghdad, not because it was safer, but because they had run out of money in Syria or their visas had expired.

There has been no mass return of the two million Iraqis who fled to Syria and Jordan or a further 2.4 million refugees who left their homes within Iraq. The latest figures from the UN High Commission for Refugees show that, on the contrary, the number of people entering Syria from Iraq was 1,200 a day in late January "while an average of 700 are going back to Iraq from Syria".

The reasons people are not going back, despite new stringent visa regulations in Syria, are that they know Baghdad is very dangerous, the chances of making a living are small and there is a continuing lack of electricity and water....

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told supporters at a town hall meeting that he, top US commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, and terror mastermind Osama bin Laden all agree about the Iraq war.

"As you probably know, an audiotape ... was released where bin Laden said, and I have to quote bin Laden: 'The nearest field of jihad today to support our people in Palestine ... is the Iraqi field.' He urged Palestinians and people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to 'help in support of their mujahideen brothers in Iraq which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task.'"

McCain followed that with, "For the first time, I have seen Osama bin Laden and Gen. Petraeus in agreement, and that is, the central battleground in the battle against al-Qaeda is in Iraq today! That's what bin Laden is saying, and that's what Gen. Petraeus is saying, and that's what I'm saying, my friends."

The Arizona senator took a swipe at his fall election rivals using a condescending political slur often employed by President George W. Bush: "My Democrat [sic] opponents, who want to pull out of Iraq, refuse to understand what's being said and what's happening, and that is, the central battleground is Iraq in this struggle against radical Islamic extremism. And my friends, we're succeeding."

"We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says. I've seen the facts on the ground," the Arizona senator insisted a day after a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed four U.S. soldiers and rockets pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone there, and a wave of attacks left at least 61 Iraqis dead nationwide. The events transpired as bin Laden called on the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to "help in support of their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task."

CHENEY SAYS IN INTERVIEW ABOUT TROOP DEATHS: "THEY VOLUNTEERED."

[url=http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/story?id=4513250&page=1]Cheney on Iraq: 'It's Important to Win' Vice President Discusses Grim Milestone of 4,000 U.S. Dead in Five-Year Iraq War[/url]

Quote:

...but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman